Uwatsura
by SilverHearts
Summary: -Appearances- She was a girl who had been forced to leave her village by her own father. Just an ordinary girl. But she made a huge impact in the lives of Team 7. And in one life in particular.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Kasumi-sama."

She looked up from her reflection in the water to see Hina, their maid,standing behind her.

"What is it, Hina-san?" She asked with a sad smile.

"Your father is ready to see you now."

Kasumi's face fell as she nodded and looked back into the water. Ripples going through it as she moved her legs, disturbing the smooth surface._'Just like how my life will be disturbed shortly.' _Hina turned to walk away. Suddenly she stopped as if wanting to say something, but then walked away shaking her head lightly. Kasumi felt tired and afraid. She hadn't slept since that day. Every time she closed her eyes horrible flashes of that nightmare came upon her. If only it had been just a nightmare… It hadn't been enough that she had to be there to witness it all…she had been the cause of it all. And now…she knew what her father would do to her. They were very strict on all shinobiand kunoichiin her clan, after all. The Head of the Yuuki-clan wouldn't go soft on her just because she was the daughter of one of his best men. They'd tell her to know better, like they had before. _'You should take an example to your father'_ they'd say, or _'With a father like yours you shouldn't be making all these continuous mistakes.' _Either way, it all came down to her father. Her almighty father. Kami, how she despised him at times like these.

Tiny droplets slid down her nose as she gazed at the dark sky. It was raining. _'Typical.'_she thought. _'On my last day as a kunoichi, it rains.' _She slowly stood up and walked back on the wooden platform surrounding the lake. _'Never expected it to end this way, that's for sure.' _Kasumi had always imagined that she'd meet a handsome shinobi on one of her missions, who she'd fall head over heels in love with. They'd get married and have three children and she'd be forced to retire._'I guess I'm still too naïve, believing in fairytales like that.' _

As she walked through the streets, she looked at all the people walking around looking happy, even though it was raining. Every once in a while she'd give a fake smile to someone she knew, wishing she could be there with them, talking, laughing, being happy. Hearing tale after tale about what kind of mission they had been on this time. How they saved the innocent woman or kids, or sometimes both. How she loved those stories.

She didn't pity herself, though. She knew she deserved every bit of this. She was weak. She had been weak on her mission the previous day. They had been sent in a group of ten. Everything had gone fine until…Their opponent had turned out to be strong. Too strong, even though it had been ten against one. And Kasumi froze. Frozen with fear she had stood there, watching. Even when the backup had come. But they had come too late.

She neared the gloomy building. Nervousness welled up in her stomach. She nodded curtly at both of the guards as they nodded back. They didn't know. Neither did the rest of the village. Not yet, anyway. But the fact that they _would _know, that they would look at her with disgust every time they'd see her, that they would hate her, despise her even, was far more punishment than not being a kunoichi anymore. Tears welled up in the corners of her green cat-like eyes. She brushed them away quickly. She already looked weak. Tears would only make it worse.

She let out a deep breath as she stood in front of the beautifully decorated door. As a little girl she loved to just stand there and look at it, trying to find out its meaning. Then her dad would open the door and smile at her.

"Are you looking at the door again, Kasumi-chan?" He'd ask. Then he'd carry her inside and tell her stories about the founders of the Yuuki-clan. She never really listened to what he said; she just loved to sit on her father's lap. She had loved the door then, but now it looked menacing, as if mocking her. She knocked on the door harshly.

"Come in" A hoarse voice sounded. She recognized it as her father's. She opened the door and walked in. After she had closed the door again, she looked at her surroundings. Her father's office was a pretty much empty, dark room. There was one window on the left side, but it let little to no light in. The walls were painted a dark brown, as was the ceiling. A huge Mahoney desk stood in the middle of the room where her father sat. His short black hair peeked out from above a file. _'Probably my file.' _Kasumi thought.

Her father lay down the file, revealing his tired looking green eyes and his chubby face. She looked like him, she realized suddenly. She had had the same tired look in her eyes down at the lake, bangs of her long black hair falling into her face. She had pulled it into a ponytail like she always did, but somehow the same bangs always fell into her face. The only difference with her father was that he didn't have the cat-like eyes. Sure, they were green, but the cat-thing she had inherited from her mother. Kasumi loved her mother dearly. The only problem was that her mother didn't stand up to her father. None of the women in the village did, actually. They were all afraid to tell their husbands what they wanted or just to say 'no' in general, but not Kasumi. She had sworn to herself that she'd never turn out like that. This was one of the reasons she'd become a shinobi in the first place.

"Sit down, Kasumi." Her father's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She took a seat in one of the leather chairs.

"I assume you know why you're here?"

"Of course I do." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Father." She added quickly.

"Good. The Head and I discussed your situation and what your punishment should be." He paused. She started getting impatient. He always did that with important talks. It almost seemed like he wanted to create a dramatic effect or something.

"And? What did you decide, father?" She asked. He sighed.

"Give me your hitaiate**"** Her face fell as she slowly reached in her hair to untie her forehead protector. _'This is it. He's actually going to fire me.' _She gave him her forehead protector, which he lay on his desk, the Mist symbol facing up. He then pulled out a kunai. Kasumi backed away a little.

"Are you going to kill me?...Father" She added quickly.

"No. Of course not." He answered sounding a little annoyed. "We came to the conclusion that you will stay a kunoichi." She gave him a confused glance.

"Then why..?" she asked as she pointed to her hitaiate. He answered her question as he slowly made a scratch across the Mist symbol. "Wha..?" she asked completely stunned. "You're making me a missing-nin? But that's not possible. Not unless I voluntarily leave. It was only one mistake…" She said completely panicking by now.

"Mistake?" Her father suddenly boomed as he stood up banging his hand on the desk. "Because of your _mistake_ nearly thirty of our top shinobi were killed! _You_ reported false information! _You_ lead the team into a trap! _You_ were the one who did nothing!...Only stood there, watching _thirty_ fellow villagers die! Do _not_starttelling me that that was just a 'mistake'!" She flinched as her father sat down again and continued in his calm voice, "So we decided to give you two choices:

"One: We discharge you as a ninja, but allow you to stay in this village. However, we will tell everyone exactly what happened. You will be hated and despised by everyone.

"Two: We make you a missing-nin. You will, obviously, no longer be a part of the Yuuki-clan and you will never return here again. But we will not tell the villagers what happened. We'll just tell them you decided to betray our village. You'll be hated either way. Though I think you'll choose the second option. Merely because I know you wouldn't be able to stand the faces full of hatred directed at you only. You killed their sons and daughters. _You_ did it and they'll know." Tears streamed down her face by now. He was right. He was absolutely right. The thought that they'd hate her…She wouldn't be able to bear it. It didn't take her long to decide what to do.

"Will you send ANBU after me?" She asked wiping away her tears. Her father grinned, but she never saw it.

"I will for the first two, maybe three weeks. I have to make it believable, you know."

Kasumi stood up and grabbed her forehead protector. As she turned her back to her father she said, "Please tell mother that I love her and will miss her." Then she walked away. Outside, past the guards, who once again nodded politely to her. If they only knew what she was. What she had done. She pulled her katana out of her backpack and strapped it onto her back underneath it. Every shinobi in Kirigakure owned one. It was mandatory. The Mist symbol was engraved in it. She still had her backpack from her mission. She didn't have to go home anymore. She didn't expect her father to pass her message on to her mother, but to be honest, she didn't care anymore. It was like she had flipped a switch inside her. She put on her hitaiate.

Right now, she was a missing-nin. She had no village. She had no friends, no family. She only had the scratch through the Mist symbol on her hitaiate to signal that she had been there. That she had had a happy life once.

Before _he_came into it.

* * *

Hiya! Yes, I know I haven't updated my other stories in a while. I've had a bit of a hard time writing new chapters because this story was constantly stuck in my head. I promise I'll update CR and MIPW again soon. For now: 

pwease review !

Tell me what you like about it and/or what you don't. Arigatou gozaimasu!

SilverHearts


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It had been three years since that unfortunate day. Three years of roaming through forests and towns, trying to survive by eating the things that grow in the forest. Sometimes Kasumi had taken to begging or even stealing, but she didn't get nearly enough to last. She'd been slowly moving forward. Too slow, she thought. Her once happy looking eyes had turned empty. Her face was hollow. Her body had become thin, too thin, but muscular. In those three years she had not given up her training. She never would. She had sworn that she would go back to her village one day and show them just how strong she had become. Though, if she continued living like this she'd only grow weaker. She'd started to think that maybe it wasn't worth all this misery.

She was currently standing at the border of yet another forest. Kasumi jumped in the tree nearest to her to get a better view of the village. It looked rather rich. But that wasn't necessarily a good sign. Most rich people were actually much greedier than the less rich ones. She sighed. She'd have to rob someone. Unfortunately, she really wasn't all that good at stealing.

"Don't know until you try, right?" She muttered to herself. She jumped down again and started walking into the village. The streets were full of cheerful people, laughing at each other. How she longed to laugh again. She looked around. People were looking at her. She had learned that her forehead protector attracted attention. Negative attention, that is. So she removed it when in villages. Unfortunately she forgot to this time, she realized as she felt her hitai-ate. Suddenly two figures caught her attention and she immediately forgot her forehead protector. It wasn't really that big of a deal unless she was in enemy territory. The small village she was in now didn't have any shinobi so she was safe for the time being. '_They look rich enough.'_ She thought. They were both wearing the same cloaks; black with red clouds. As she followed them she noticed that the one lagging behind had long black hair pulled together. She couldn't see the other one's head, though. He was too far away.

If her mind had been working correctly, she would have noticed how people turned away from them, their faces contorted in disgust. But - maybe because of the lack of food, maybe because she didn't care - she didn't see it. As she caught up with the black haired one, she pulled on his sleeve slightly.

"Excuse me, sir. You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?" She asked. The man stopped and looked at her hand on his sleeve and then turned to her. Kasumi backed away slightly, eyes open wide in shock. His eyes…they were red. With what seemed like three black dots in them. She stared at them. Never had she seen such fascinating, yet terrifying eyes before. She blinked and suddenly a fist was coming her way. Out of reflex, she dodged the attack and flipped backwards landing crouched on the ground.

"Geez, don't have to go all violent on me. Forget I asked." She muttered slightly hurt. '_He couldn't have, could he?' _

"You're a ninja." he stated simply. She stood up straight with her hands on her hips and her head cocked slightly.

"Well duh…" She said as she pointed to her forehead. His eyes slid to her forehead for a second, but then back to her eyes. He paused, still staring at her with those creepy eyes. She was getting annoyed and was about to turn away when he said,

"You tried to rob me." She froze mid-step. '_How the hell did he know that?' _Her eyes studied his face. There were lines on his face, accentuating his red eyes. He was actually rather handsome. She tried to find any emotion in his face, but there wasn't. She couldn't tell if he was angry. As her eyes slid to his forehead she flinched. A ninja… '_Smart move, Kasumi, very smart. Trying to rob a ninja. And a missing-nin, too. Wait… Missing-nin?' _

"You're a missing-nin?" she questioned. He didn't answer as they stared at each other. She wondered where the other guy had gone as the guy's eyes looked behind her and then back at her so fast she didn't see it. "I'm sorry to have bothered you." Kasumi said as she was going to turn to walk away, but was stopped by his voice.

"What's your name?" She hesitated, not sure if she should tell him, but then decided a name wouldn't do any harm.

"Yuuki Kasumi. Yours?"

"Uchiha Itachi." He answered. She gave him one of her fake smiles and a little wave before she turned and walked away…into something solid.

"Itai. Gomennasai." She said before she looked up. It was that other guy. The guy grinned.

"Well, what do ya know, if it isn't-"

"Kisame." A warning voice sounded from behind her. '_Kisame? Oh my god!' _She took a step back and bowed.

"It's an honor, Kisame-san. I've heard a lot about you and have always admired your strength… Though I would have been killed if I ever admitted that." She added with a tinge of hate.

"Would you look at that, I have a fan." Kisame's raspy voice sounded. She looked at his grinning face. "Ah, so you're a missing-nin too, eh? You don't look like a ninja" He continued. Kasumi's anger rose.

"You don't either."

"Touché."Kisame said grinning, while Kasumi scowled.

"Fish-man." She muttered. Kisame turned his gaze on her. He looked rather angry.

"What did you call me?" She squealed as he suddenly grabbed her neck and pulled her up. Her feet were of the ground and she was running out of oxygen. '_Geez, didn't know he was so sensitive…' _She then proceeded to gather a constant amount of chakra in her upper body and made some seals with her hands.

**"****Shoushitsu no Jutsu" **She managed to get out and smirked as she saw Kisame's eyes widen slightly. She disappeared from his grasp and landed a few meters behind Itachi. She dropped to her knees, panting heavily. "I definitely…need to…work on that…more." She panted.

"Interesting" A raspy voice said in front of her. She looked up at Kisame and smirked.

"It is, isn't it?" She said catching her breath. "It's a Bloodline Limit. But I don't have full control over it yet. It uses too much chakra, as you can see. So I don't use it often, only when absolutely necessary." She never realized that it could be dangerous to give away this much information on her Bloodline Limit. Kisame stared at her.

"How does it work?" He asked. Kasumi shrugged.

"I just gather a constant amount of chakra in my upper body, form the right seals and say 'shousitsu no jutsu'. That's all I was taught, really. Nobody bothered explaining anything to little, weak Kasumi." She said bitterly.

Over the years she had grown bitter towards her old village. She realized that nobody had actually cared about her. She had always known her father didn't. Her father had wanted a strong son who could one day become the Head. But since Kasumi was neither strong nor a guy, her father had hated her since he realized she would never become a strong ninja. Her friends, though…She had once thought they actually liked her. But she now realized they just hung with her because her father was an important man.

"Bastards." She muttered. Then she looked up with another one of her fake smiles. "Well, I'd better be going. Once again, I'm sorry I tried to rob you." She said turning to Itachi while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "It was nice meeting you. I hope we'll meet again one day." Kisame grinned.

"I'm sure we will." Kasumi gave a small wave and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kisame turned to Itachi. "Mind telling me why you cut me off like that?"

"She doesn't know."

"So that's why she acted so weird…" Kisame said. Itachi nodded. "Should we go after her?"

"Not now." Itachi said in his usual cold voice.

"They won't wait forever, Itachi-san. And it would be nice to keep most of the Akatsuki members alive."

"It was foolish of Deidera to be captured. We have better things to do than to save him." Itachi pointed out as he disappeared. Kisame stared at the spot Itachi had been standing at for a while, deep in thought, before he too disappeared.

* * *

Kasumi appeared at the border of the forest once again.

"Damn! Still didn't get any food. Oh well, the next village maybe. I wasn't really all that hungry, anyway." She said as she sighed before starting to run through the forest. '_Fire Country, here I come!'_

"Damn it! Stupid rain!" Kasumi winced as she landed on another tree branch and looked at the kunai still sticking out her right shoulder. She had entered Fire Country a while ago and had been attacked immediately. A group of four shinobi passed by and she didn't have time to take off her hitai-ate. She had barely made it out alive. There were three kids that were obviously still Genin, so she managed to knock them out rather quickly. But their team leader had been difficult to deal with. The senbon he had had in his mouth was thrown at her which she easily dodged, though she hadn't expected it. Unfortunately it was meant as a distraction and she had ended up with the kunai in her shoulder. In the end she managed to knock him out by silently creating a replication and making it attack from behind. She was lucky, though. He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would normally fall for something that obvious. He probably had an off day. The wound she received, though, turned out to be more serious than she had thought at first. She had lost a lot of blood and was on the verge of fainting. And then it had started to bloody rain!

"Just a little rest." Kasumi muttered weakly as she jumped down on the road wincing in the process. She sat down against one of the trees, clutching her shoulder. She wanted to rip the stupid kunai out, but was afraid that that might cause even more damage and blood loss. At least she was out of the rain for now. Her eyes slowly drifted shut and moments later her breath steadied.

* * *

"Anou sa, anou sa, Kakashi-sensei? Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Yes, Naruto." Kakashi answered sounding annoyed. Naruto had been asking the same question over and over again for the last fifteen minutes. He thought they were going in circles ever since he claimed that 'he had seen that tree already'.

"I just wanted to make su-" He was interrupted by a scream not too far away.

"What was that?" Sakura asked as Team 7 came to a stop. "Should we check it out, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Of course! Someone could be in danger! Let's go!" Naruto yelled and disappeared into the direction the scream came from. Kakashi shrugged.

"I guess we don't have a choice."

"We could leave him." Sasuke suggested. Fortunately for Naruto, nobody answered as they disappeared after Naruto. After a few minutes they saw Naruto. He was on his knees bending over something. As Team 7 landed behind him, Naruto said,

"Sakura, she needs your help." He said sounding serious all of a sudden. They walked closer to see a girl lying before them. Her black hair was wet from the sweat dripping down her forehead. She kept rolling around as if she was having a nightmare, muttering incoherently. Sakura knelt down next to the girl.

"She has a high fever." She stated as she felt the girl's forehead. "The wound on her shoulder doesn't look too good, either."

"Will she make it?" Naruto asked.

"She'll be fine as long as we take her to the hospital. I can do some emergency healing, but we need to get to Konoha. Give me a minute." Naruto nodded and stood up. As he walked over to Kakashi, he asked,

"How long until we get to Konoha?" Kakashi shrugged as he pulled out his famous, orange book.

"About 10 minutes."

"Do you think she's from Konoha?"

"I don't think so. I've never seen her before."

"She's not a ninja, either." Naruto asked taking in her thin body covered by black knee-length shorts and a red halter top.

"Yes, she is." Sasuke said. Naruto turned to him.

"What makes you think that?"

"She has ninja gear, dobe." He said simply.

"What did you call me?" Naruto growled.

"Sensei!" Sakura's voice sounded. They quickly walked over to her. The kunai lay next to the girl and her shoulder had been bandaged. Sakura smiled up at them. "We're ready to go now. One of you needs to carry her." Kakashi just read his book while Sasuke glared at her.

"I'll carry her!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Sakura stood up and cleaned her hands as Naruto carefully lifted the girl onto his back. "Ready? Let's go!" Naruto jumped back into the trees and disappeared, soon followed by Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke.

* * *

Kasumi groaned and slowly opened her eyes letting them adjust to the light.

"Ugh, how long have I been asleep?" she said to no one in particular. Imagine her surprise when someone actually answered.

"About 6 hours." Kasumi jumped and reached for her weapon pouch, only to find out it wasn't there. Her eyes slid to the person next to her bed. It was a woman with long blond hair and honey brown eyes. She was writing something down. Then she looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry, you're safe now."

"Safe? I don't recall ever being in danger. Who are you and where am I?" The woman sat down next to the bed.

"You're in the Konoha Hospital. I'm a medic and this village's Hokage."

"Hokage? Whoa…How did I get here?"

"A group of Konoha shinobi was on their way back to the village when they heard a scream. They went to check it out and found you, injured."

Kasumi blinked. "I screamed?" the woman nodded.

"Probably because of the high fever. They said you looked like you were having a nightmare. But you'll be fine now. You just need some rest and then you'll be on your way."

"On my way?"

"Yes. You're not from around here, right?"

Kasumi nodded. '_How did they know? They can't have looked in my bag. They wouldn't be so nice to me if they had.'_ After the fight she had ended up in right after entering Fire Country, she had taken off her forehead protector and put it in her bag. "Where's my bag?" She asked. The woman frowned, but then pointed across the room. Kasumi sighed in relief as she saw her bag lying against the wall. Her katana was put next to it.

"What's your name?" The Hokage asked carefully. She thought the girl was acting strange. The girl smiled, but she could see it was fake.

"Yuuki Kasumi. Would you mind telling me yours, Hokage-sama?" She asked politely.

"My name is Tsunade"

"Tsunade-baa-chan? Is she awake yet?" A voice yelled.

"Don't yell Naruto! This is a hospital!" Tsunade yelled right back. Naruto opened the door and grinned.

"Gomen." Then he smiled at Kasumi. "You're awake!" She nodded shyly. After being pretty much alone every day for 3 years, meeting such a noisy guy can be kind of overwhelming.

"Are you the one that saved me?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said,

"One of them. Sakura-chan actually healed you, but I helped bring you to Konoha!"

"Sakura, huh? Well…thanks, I guess."

"Anou sa, you're a ninja, right?" Kasumi's eyes widened in shock.

"How did you know that?"

"Your weapon pouch."

"Oh…err…yes, I'm a ninja. You are, too, right? What's your name?" He pointed his thumb at his forehead protector and grinned.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! I'm a ninja and will be the Hokage one day!"

"Really? That's very ambitious." '_Uzumaki Naruto, huh? I've heard that name before…'_

"Naruto, you'll have to leave now. She needs to rest." Tsunade said. Naruto looked disappointed, but nodded.

"Just one question: What's your name?"

"Yuuki Kasumi." She answered. Naruto turned around and walked to the door.

"Bye Kasumi! Get well soon so I can introduce you to my team!"

"I will. Bye Naruto." He waved and closed the door. Kasumi turned to Tsunade who looked deep in thought.

"Hokage-sama?" Tsunade looked up.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking about something." She stood up. "Get some rest and I'll check up on you later."

Kasumi nodded. "Okay, thanks."

Tsunade nodded and walked away. After the door closed Kasumi lay back down. '_Well, at least I got into Konoha, though it didn't go quite like I planned.'_ She closed her eyes, attempting to sleep, but she felt wide awake. Then she tried concentrating on her breath. '_Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.'_ Suddenly she felt a piercing stare. She sat up straight and looked at the window on the left side, but saw nothing. '_Weird.'_ She thought as she lay down and closed her eyes again. The feeling didn't return for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Another chapter of this story! I'm going to be very busy for a while, but school ends in about 2-3 weeks and then I'll be going to America for 4 weeks. So I'll have enough time to write and upload then and after that. :)

Of course, I'd _really_ appreciate it if you'd review!

Thnx! SilverHearts.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"But Tsunade-baa-chan! I just need to ask her something. Is she awake?"

"No Naruto, I already told you: You can't go in!" Tsunade said rubbing her temples. Naruto had been asking her the same question for a half an hour now and she was getting tired of it. "Look, just come back later. She'll be awake then."

"I can't ask her later. The training begins now. I just want to ask her if she wants to come train with us." Naruto said basically pleading.

"I'd love to. Just let me get my stuff." A voice sounded from the door. Tsunade and Naruto both turned to Kasumi. Tsunade looked mad and Naruto grinned.

"Alright. I'll wait."

"You can't train now, Kasumi. You're not entirely healed yet."

"Who said anything about training? I'm just going to go watch them, okay? Naruto will be my witness." Kasumi's voice muttered from behind the door. She appeared again with her backpack. She had strapped her katana on to her back. "All set. Let's go!" She said enthusiastically. Tsunade groaned and said,

"Fine. Naruto, you make sure that she doesn't move an inch." Then she walked away. She shook her head muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'Kids'. Kasumi followed Naruto out of the hospital and through Konoha. She listened to Naruto babbling on and on about ramen.

"This is really a nice town." She commented looking around.

"Yeah, I love it here." Naruto said dreamily as he crossed his arms behind his head. Kasumi smiled slightly at his reaction.

"It must be nice to have a village you can come home to…"

"Ano, nee-chan, why are you here? You don't have a village to go back to?"

"It´s kinda complicated."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked slight confusion apparent on his face. Kasumi had the sudden urge to pinch his cheeks. She cleared her throat and composed herself.

"I can´t tell you. I mean, not yet, I need to figure something out first."

He nodded. "Will you tell me after you've figured it out, then, Nee-chan?"

"Hai. You'll be the first."

"Hey look! We're here! Come on!" Naruto said as he ran to the clearing. Kasumi decided to take it easy and just walk. As she walked over to Naruto, two kids greeted him and then looked at her. The girl on the left smiled and said,

"Hi! I'm Haruno Sakura. Glad to see you're still alive." Kasumi nodded friendly.

"Thanks to you I've heard. I'm Yuuki Kasumi. Nice to meet you. I guess I should thank you for saving my life."

Sakura waved her hand dismissively. "It was nothing, really."

"And this is Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto said pointing at the other guy. As Kasumi looked into his eyes she had a sudden sense of déjà vu. His eyes were so cold and there was so much…hatred in them.

"Hi." She said. He gave her a nod. _'He looks familiar…'_ Then it clicked. _'That guy…'_

_Flashback_

"_Excuse me, sir. You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?" She asked. The man stopped and looked at her hand on his sleeve and then turned to her. Kasumi backed away slightly, eyes open wide in shock. His eyes…they were red. With what seemed like three black dots in them. She stared at them. She had never seen such fascinating, yet terrifying eyes before. She blinked and suddenly a fist was coming her way. Out of reflex, she dodged the attack and flipped backwards landing crouched on the ground._

_End Flashback_

"You look like…" She trailed off.

"Like who?" His deep voice sounded. His eyes had narrowed dangerously.

"Never mind…" she waved it off. "Just someone I met on the road. I don't even remember his name. So…is this your usual training group?"

"No, Kakashi-sensei also trains with us, but he's always late."

"I see." After that the group lapsed into silence. With the exception of Naruto who kept talking about Kakashi's poor excuses for being late. After about fifteen minutes Kasumi gazed up, letting the wind flow through her hair.

"Yo." A voice sounded behind her. Kasumi jumped and turned around. Her kunai was blocked and with an impressive set of moves it was suddenly at _her_ throat, her arms pinned.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're late!" Naruto yelled as if nothing happened. Kasumi struggled to get loose, as well as trying not to get her throat slit. The grip on her arms turned out to be too strong, though. So she gave up, not wanting to use her Bloodline Limit.

"Let me go!" She yelled.

"Who's this girl?" The voice sounded in her ear. Kasumi shivered as she felt his hot breath on her ear.

"That's Yuuki Kasumi. The girl we saved yesterday." The kunai suddenly disappeared from her throat and her arms were let loose.

"Well, why didn't you say so sooner?" Kasumi turned around with her hand over her heart.

"You scared the hell out of me! You ba-…" She trailed off as she looked up at Kakashi's face. He had spiky silver hair and his headband hung over his left eye. The lower part of his face was covered by a black mask. He was, in one word, mysterious. But the word that entered Kasumi's mind first was; handsome. Unfortunately, Kasumi was a sucker for the mysterious guys. Sometimes with a slightly evil side. "…ka…" She finished weakly.

"Kasumi, are you alright? Your face is all red." Naruto yelled. Sakura snickered as Kasumi glared at him.

"I'm fine." She muttered slightly embarrassed.

"Are you really a ninja?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kasumi hissed.

"If you were you should have been able to sense Kakashi-sensei behind you, shouldn't you?"

"I never said I was a _good_ ninja!" she retorted heatedly as she walked over to a tree. "Anyway, just do what you usually do and I'll watch. I'm not supposed to be training until I'm completely healed, right Naruto?" She sat down pouting.

"Right! Just relax and watch me kick Sasuke's ass!"

"Hn. Let's see you try." Sasuke answered with a smirk.

"Actually, you're going to be fighting me, Naruto. I want to see how strong Sakura's become now that she's trained with Hokage-sama."

"Aw, but I wanted to beat Sasuke."

"Let's go!" Kakashi said as he jumped back. Naruto jumped back too as Sakura and Sasuke walked over to the other side of the clearing.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five Naruto's appeared. They all grabbed a kunai and jumped at Kakashi. Kakashi easily blocked and dodged them and the real Naruto was kicked back as the others disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Is that all you can do?" Kakashi said. The 'real' Naruto suddenly disappeared, too. Kakashi turned around quickly and grabbed Naruto's leg, who tried to kick him from above and swung him away. Naruto crashed against a tree and slid down. _'Kuso…'_ He thought as he stood back up. He charged at Kakashi again and they became engaged in hand to hand combat.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" Sakura dodged the breath of flames that came her way and jumped up in a tree. Suddenly she sensed Sasuke behind her and turned around, blocking the punch that he sent and countering with a chakra enhanced punch. He dodged, but Sakura managed to hit his side. He seemed caught off guard, but recovered quickly as he crouched sticking out his left leg to tackle Sakura, but she flipped back off the branch and landed on the ground. She threw a kunai at Sasuke but he blocked it with his own. Sakura's kunai bounced off his kunai and flew away in the direction of Kasumi.

"Look out!" Sakura yelled, but to her utter shock the kunai hit Kasumi right in her stomach. "Oh my god!" She whispered as she ran over to Kasumi. But as she did, the Kasumi that just sat there as if nothing happened, burst into a cloud of smoke. They all stopped fighting and stared.

"What? Where did she go?" Naruto asked. "I'm going to find her." He said as he ran off. Sakura sighed.

"I'll go bring him back." She said as she went to follow him. Kakashi stared.

"Then I guess we'll go to." Kakashi and Sasuke jumped in the trees and disappeared.

* * *

"Yatta!" Kasumi yelled as her kunai hit the target, which just happened to be a tree. She was so busy concentrating on her training that she didn't notice that her shadow clone had disappeared back at the training grounds._ 'Kunai training…check'_ she made a mental note. _'Next is…ugh…bloodline limit…'_ She really didn't like it since it cost so much chakra, but if she wanted to change that fact she'd have to train.

She walked to the one end of the clearing and tried to relax her muscles. She let out a deep breath and started concentrating chakra into her upper body. _'more…more…just a little more…'_ She closed her eyes, made the right seals and said, "**Shoushitsu no Jutsu." **She felt her body move and when she stopped, she opened her eyes. She had made it to the other end of the clearing. As she had expected her chakra was drained and she dropped to her knees."Damn it! One more time!" She cursed as she stood up again. Shaking on her knees she tried to access her chakra. "Kuso! It's seems one time is my limit, for now"

'_God,'_ she thought as she dropped onto her stomach. _'Why am I the only that is so weak in my clan?' _She breathed heavily as she felt her energy fade. _'What did I do to deserve this? I've tried _so _hard…from the day I was born. But I was always left behind...Maybe, if I stay here I can become a truly good ninja...'_

"Kasumi! Where are you?" Naruto's voice sounded from not to far away. She groaned and tried to get up, but her body failed her. _'Crap. How did they find out I was gone? Now they're going to know I trained.' _She heard footsteps near her.

"Kasumi! Are you okay?" Naruto said next to her.

"Meh. Just peachy." Kasumi answered.

"What were you doing here?" Sakura's voice sounded.

"…Nothing" Kasumi replied innocently while panting. "Just lying in the sun."

"Do you honestly think we'll believe that?" Sasuke commented as he landed next to her.

"…It was worth a shot…"

"Well, we _don't_ believe you…" Naruto said.

"Mind telling us what you were _really_ doing?" Sakura asked.

"You were training, weren't you?" Naruto said ignoring Sakura as he pointed a finger accusingly at Kasumi. As some strength returned to her, Kasumi sat up.

"Fine! I was! I just…_need_ to train. I have to perfect my bl- techniques. I _need_…power!" Whoa, she almost slipped there. She didn't feel like telling them about her bloodline limit just yet.

"Why do you need power?" Sasuke's deep voice asked.

"That's none of your business." She hissed. She didn't like the way he asked it. "But right now, I need to talk to the Hokage. Could you take me there, Naruto"

"Sure, Nee-chan!"

"You can't, Naruto." Sakura interrupted. "We promised we'd help out at the hospital, remember?" Naruto's face fell.

"Right. Sorry, Nee-chan. Maybe some other time. Wait, I know! Kakashi-sensei could take you!"

"Meh. Why him? I don't like him. He's scary and weird… And he's right behind me, isn´t he?" Kasumi added seeing their faces. Naruto and Sakura nodded while Sasuke just made a 'Hn' sound. Kasumi turned her head back and looked right in Kakashi's face. She turned back and stood up. "Screw it. I'm right. Ah!" She hissed clutching her shoulder that turned red. Sakura jumped at her side.

"Look what you've done. You reopened your wound!"

"You really are a poor excuse for a kunoichi." Sasuke commented dryly. She turned to him, eyes blazing.

"Would you stop with the insults! I already know I suck, okay?" She said as she slapped Sakura's hand from her shoulder and limped away. "Don't come after me."

After she had disappeared through the trees Sakura asked, "So who's going after her? Naruto and I can't because we promised we'd be in the hospital. So that leaves you two." Sasuke gave her a there's-no-way-I'm-going-after-her-look.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"No." He said. "She'll be fine on her own."

"Oh come on, Kakashi-sensei! We'll…um…buy you ramen for two weeks!"

"You're the only one that can be bribed by ramen, Naruto"

"Then we'll…um…buy you sake for two weeks." He tried again. Kakashi shook his head and pulled out his book. This gave Sakura an idea.

"We'll buy you every new Icha Icha volume that comes out for a month." Kakashi's eyebrow rose. He hadn't expected this from Sakura. Naruto maybe, but not Sakura. He knew she hated his book and she took every chance she got to tell him that.

"One year." He just said. Sakura snorted.

"Three months." Sakura could see he had an amused look on his face, even though he was still wearing his mask. She had learned to see certain emotions over the years.

"Six months." Sakura hesitated slightly, but then nodded.

"Deal." _'I just hope Jiraiya-sama doesn't release any books soon.'_ Naruto, who had been following the discussion with interest, said,

"I'm not paying for that."

"What? You baka!" Sakura exclaimed hitting him upside the head.

"Sorry! Have to go! Duty calls and all" Naruto said quickly and disappeared in a puff of smoke, soon followed by Sakura. Kakashi glanced at Sasuke who smirked at him before leaving as well.

'_Great'_ Kakashi thought as he started to make his way to the village while still reading his book. _'I get stuck with the mental one.'_

* * *

'_Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID training!'_ Kasumi's mind screamed as she made her way through the village. She had figured out that the big, red building was the Hokage's office all by herself. Really, she should get an award for that. Someone bumped into her shoulder and she winced. She hadn't thought the wound would take so long to heal. Weren't medic-nins able to completely heal wounds? She chuckled. Maybe they didn't heal her on purpose. Maybe they didn't trust her. She didn't blame them.

Suddenly she saw someone and froze. It was the guy she had fought when entering Fire Country. The one that wounded her. _'Crap.'_ She turned around quickly and walked away only to crash into someone.

"Itai! This is the second time this week."

"You should watch where you're going, then." A lazy voice sounded.

"Kakashi!" Kasumi said in surprise. Then she narrowed her eyes. "I thought I told you not to come after me." She said as she glanced back nervously. He was coming their way. Kakashi shrugged watching her carefully, pretending to be engrossed in his book.

"Never mind." She said as she tried to walk past him. He blocked her way. She looked up questioningly.

"The Hokage's office is the other way." He merely said. She glanced back again.

"I know, but…there's something I need to do first." Kakashi's eyebrow rose as his eyes still scanned his book.

"Really? What's that?" He saw her plucking the hem of her shirt.

"Uh…well…you see…" She stuttered as she glanced back yet again. _'Damn! He's getting closer! I'm not gonna make it. I have to think of something.'_ Then it hit her. She sighed. "Fine. See that guy there?" She said as she nodded her head to the guy walking their way. "He…uh…well, he hit on me earlier and now I'm kinda trying to…avoid him…"

Kakashi looked up and immediately noticed it was his occasional drinking companion, Genma. He didn't quite buy her story, but figured it was possible. He knew Genma's reputation as well as everyone, after all. So he stepped aside.

"Hide in there." He said as he nodded his head to an alley. "I'll distract him." Kasumi sighed in relief.

"Thanks! You're the best!" She almost hugged him, but then decided not to and hurried into the alley. _'Just in time.'_ she thought when she saw Genma standing in front of each other. They greeted each other and started talking.

"You just came back from a mission?" Genma asked. Kasumi couldn't hear what they said, but it seemed like they knew each other.

"Yesterday, actually."

"Yeah, so did I. Ran into a missing-nin on the way back." Kakashi looked up from his book, suddenly interested. They could be after Naruto, after all.

"Akatsuki?"

"Nah, wasn't wearing the cloak. It was a girl. Wasn't too strong. I let my guard down. I did manage to injure her, though, before she got away. She wasn't in the Bingo book, by the way. So she probably hasn't been a missing-nin for too long." Genma said. Kakashi nodded and didn't respond for a while as if contemplating something. Then he said,

"Did you tell the Hokage about this? She might've gone to one of the villages in the Fire country to get medical aid."

"Yeah, just told her. Said she'd look into it." _'This is my chance!'_ Kasumi thought as Genma looked the other way. She snuck out of the alley and quickly walked past the two of them. She gave Kakashi a thumbs up before she started running towards the red building. She knew he had seen it even though he wasn't looking her way.

She smirked. She made it.

* * *

Hi there! I was able to magically conjure another chapter before the workload completely gets to me. Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed the last chapter.

Special thanks (because they also reviewed! Which I like. But hey, which writer doesn´t) to:

TheWinchesterAngel: Thanks for the review!

crimson-tic-tac: Thank you! Kasumi is 18 years old. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke are 17 and Kakashi is 28. And I´m from the Netherlands.

So please review again! Tell me what you like, what I could change...anything!

SilverHearts


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